3 dead as Ebola virus resurfaces in DR Congo

The Health Ministry of the Democratic Republic of Congo together with the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Friday that one person who died recently of a hemorrhagic fever has tested positive for the Ebola virus, indicating a fresh new outbreak of the killer disease.

According to the Ministry, the case was confirmed after tests were conducted on nine people who came down with a hemorrhagic fever in Bas-Uele province in the north of the country on or after April 22, adding that three people have died of fever.

'Our country must confront an outbreak of the Ebola virus that constitutes a public health crisis of international significance,' the ministry said.

Confirming the outbreak to Reuters, the WHO's Congo spokesman, Eric Kabambi said: 'It is in a very remote zone, very forested, so we are a little lucky. We always take this very seriously."

The last outbreak of Ebola in Congo was in 2014 and killed 42 people.

It could also be recalled that in 2014, a Nigerian nurse, Obi Justina Ejuelonu equally lost her life after attending to Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American Ebola carrier who brought the disease to Nigeria and also died in Lagos.